He Is Turning Steel Into A Drag Racer

John Gore of Ballietsville is doing something that he says no other person in the Lehigh Valley has ever done.

The 34-year-old Gore is turning a pile of steel into a Thunderbird drag racing car, and the ambitious project is better than halfway finished.

Gore, who is employed in the production department of WLVT-TV (Channel 39), started on the project in June of 1984 with his partner, Fred Suter, a computer operator from Northampton.

All of the work is being done upstairs of the Bahnick Brothers garage in Northampton.

John and Fred have a company known as Starship Racecars. Both formerly were members of Ampton Racing Inc. Both describe their activity as "building and maintaining race cars."

"We finally decided to build a car of our own after building cars for other people," Gore said the other day.

The first step in their current project was coming up with a whole lot of money, Gore said with a smile.

Then the pair went out and bought "a bunch of steel." Along with that, a chassis kit was purchased from a firm in California and mailed in four boxes to the men. The next step was to order a fiberglass Thunderbird body from a company in Camden, N.J.

So far the men have been busy measuring, cutting and welding. They work on the car whenever time permits, sometimes spending as much as 10 hours a day doing the necessary tasks.

Currently they are finishing the chassis, which is ready to be painted. The body is set to be mounted in the chassis.

The next big task will be building the interior with all its screws and nuts. Then will come the wiring and work on the brake lining - work that is usually called detailing.

"I estimate the car should be done and running by the middle of September," Gore said.

He is not saying what the overall cost will be - he just says it will be "considerable."

The car, which will be painted maroon, silver and gold, definitely will draw a lot of attention.

Incidentally, a car like this may be unique in the Lehigh Valley area but Gore says they are common in other parts of the nation.

Both Gore and Suter are well-known in the drag racing field, having competed over the past dozen years in this state, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky, just to mention a few.

The men hope the car lasts a long time - provided the chassis is done right. If that is the case, the car can run from eight to ten years with changes being made along the way.